The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors and, more particularly, for electrical connectors that are mounted to photovoltaic or solar modules.
Solar modules or panels convert incident light into electricity. Known solar modules receive light and convert the light into an electrical potential difference. The electrical potential difference is applied to module contacts positioned at or near an exterior surface of the solar module. An electrical connector is electrically coupled to the module contacts to receive the potential difference. The potential differences of the solar modules may be combined as an electric current passing through several of the connectors and modules. The electric current may then be applied to an electric load that uses the current generated by the solar modules to perform one or more operations or actions.
Some known electrical connectors are mounted to the solar modules to electrically couple the connectors with the solar modules. The connectors may be referred to as solar junction boxes. A bus bar ribbon or other contact may extend from the solar module and be affixed to contacts in the connectors. Some known connectors affix the bus bar ribbons to the contacts using solder. For example, solder balls may be applied to the contacts between the contacts and the bus bar ribbon. The solder balls are then heated to reflow the solder to secure the contacts and bus bar with one another and to provide an electrically communicative pathway between the contacts and the bus bar.
The solder that is used in some known connectors is manually applied. The manual application of the solder may result in inefficient use of the solder. For example, the manual application of the solder may cause a wide variance in the amounts of solder that are applied to the contacts. Some contacts may have too little solder and thus have a relatively poor electrical connection with the solar module. Other contacts may have too much solder, thereby resulting in wasted solder material.
Therefore, a need exists for connectors that use solder more efficiently to electrically couple the connectors with, for example, photovoltaic modules.